#nonspeaking and proud

[clownrecess]

It is not inappropriate for AAC users to have acsess to swear words.

My peers started swearing at around age 10, and if that is what language the speaking people of that age are using, nonspeaking people have the same right.

Not giving us acsess to the same type of language as our peers feels alienating, it doesn't let us communicate with the same language and terms our peers and friends do. We are not babies. We are not stupid. We are the same as our speaking peers. Just because you can sometimes control what language we use, doesnt mean you should.

[playdo-the-happy-pup]

trigger warning infantilizing

sometimes people discriminate against me because i don't speak. they think it's okay to talk to me like an infant, and it's really frustrating. i am a human being with thoughts and feelings, and i deserve to be treated with respect. nonspeaking people are human too, and we deserve to be listened to and heard.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

i love all the autistic people who have been called “low functioning” and “severe” entire life who identifies with it despite autism community backlash

i love all the autistic people who have been called “low functioning” and “severe” entire life who hates it who do not want to be called that what so ever

i love all the people with intellectual disabilities who are okay (maybe even like!) with being called “stupid” because they see it as true because nothing wrong with being stupid nothing wrong with not smart, who hate being told “we’re all smart in our own way ;)”

i love all the people with intellectual disabilities who hate being called “stupid” who just want to be genuinely called “smart” once in their life

i love all the people with I/DD who is okay with being I/DD, who likes being I/DD, who is proud of being I/DD

i love all the people with I/DD who don’t want to be I/DD, who hates being I/DD, who just want to be “normal,” who will choose to be “normal” if they can

same for high support needs disabled people

same for nonspeaking/nonverbal & minimally speaking/verbal people

i love people who cannot speak with mouth words who call themselves nonspeaking

i love people who cannot speak with mouth words who call themselves nonverbal

i love people who cannot speak with mouth words who call themselves mute

i love the duality and diversity of us

[autisticadvocacy]

"As a nonspeaking autistic, it is so hard to be heard…We deserve a seat at the table. I want to demonstrate what is possible. I deserve to control my life. We have a right to be here, loud and proud." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7BKRDaneRg

[pxppet]

Oh, this one was fun. Warning for Anti being a creep, but he doesn't get his way this time.

[CW: panic attack, flashback, confrontation of an abuser, implied domestic abuse, home invasion, unwanted sexual comments, physical threat, vomit mention

‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿

Jameson walks briskly down the streets of the downtown area towards his and Henrik's flat. The air is warm, and summer makes everything droopy even in the late evening. A darkening sky serves as a warning to get home fast. Jameson can't get a smile off his face, having just headed home from a dinner with his deaf and nonspeaking support group. Every Saturday evening they pick a new spot, and tonight was a particularly tasty pizza place a few blocks from his home.

Jameson is used to walking lately. Yeah, he's used to it! No more paranoia or freaking out at every person brushing by him. It took a good few years, but he's just walked to a meeting with friends all by himself. Henrik will be in bed already for his shift at the hospital, but JJ pictures a great many proud kisses from him come morning.

Jameson arrives at his front door and fumbles with his keys, tongue sticking out slightly in focus. Never could get rid of the tremors in his hands, despite many attempts at medication. He pushes open the door, just a tad too hard because the left edge always gets stuck.

The apartment is dark, but Henrik left on a light in the hallway for him. Jameson itches at his neck, fingers ghosting over that old tattoo. He sighs, kicking off his shoes - sneakers, if you can believe it, not dress shoes. He stretches and walks down the hallway towards the kitchen. The light in the hallway slightly illuminates every other room, so he doesn't flip on the light in the kitchen, going about getting a cup of water after the walk.

Truly a mistake.

"You."

A voice, no, that voice hisses from the shadows. Jameson's cup falls from his hands and shatters on the floor as he whirls towards the noise. Pinpricks of green glow back at him, a shadowy form obscured around them.

It shouldn't be real, this is like every nightmare he's had over the past five years, this can't be real. He backs up against the counter, mouth hanging open, eyes nearly popping out of his skull. Anti hasn't used his noncorporeal form since they were both very young. 'Green hair and pumpkin carving' young.

"You," Anti calls again. The shadow moves towards him, stalking. "You," he says, but this time it's not anger in his tone, its nearly a whine, a pitiful noise. Jameson is hyperventilating, he closes his eyes, blinks hard, but it doesn't get rid of the shadowy beast that is his former husband.

"You can't be here," he signs, eyes still closed. "Can't."

"I am. I had to reduce my essence down to this to get past that fucking cat's wards." The shadow reels towards him, in his face in an instant. "I came... I came to get you." His voice seems shaky, almost hopeful.

Jameson feels himself crying, fear and anger colliding in his brain as the tattoo on his neck burns the reality into him that Anti is here. "I don't want you to get me."

The shadow scoffs, barely hiding how shattered Anti sounds. "I came to get you," he repeats, like a lost child. "Come home. I- I miss you. I tried others, I tried new puppets, but none of them were you-"

"Didn't have my throat or something?" Jameson's hands snarl, tears pouring down his face.

Anti laughs. "No," he purrs, the shadow touching to the tattoo on his neck, "they certainly didn't have that~" Jameson feels like puking as Anti's power thrums through him. He turns around to break away, putting his hands on the counter, heaving with crying. The shadow swoops back a few steps, observing him.

"Why would I want to go back? What do you even have to offer?" He turns back to sign at him after a long moment.

"Anything you want, dear."

"Don't ever fucking call me that again," JJ signs so hard his hands smack together.

The shadow stills, glaring at him. "Alright, you brat. Here's what I have to offer. The un-murdered lives of your new best pals."

"You can't get past Marvin's wards."

"Oh, and you're inside this home constantly then? You could live with knowing that every shift he works, he's in danger? Every grocery trip and appointment and errand?" The shadow's voice speaks right in his ear, hissing. "Could you live with yourself?"

Jameson feels his knees buckle, and he falls against the counter, sobbing. Henrik and the others have done so much for him over these years, been with him through every step of what he thought was becoming healed. He can't. He can't live with himself, and Anti knows that.

"Come with me," the shadow calls, "or they'll all pay the price you owe me."

Jameson slams his fist on the counter and turns around, eyes blazing. He walks directly up to the gleaming green eyes and stares into them, teeth gritted. "No," he signs, strong and sure. "You do not get this victory. Look at you, Anti. You haven't looked like this since when I was just born. You have to do this to yourself to even get to me for a moment. No. I will not be going. Marvin's coven will find more powerful spells that keep you at bay forever." Jameson pants as his tattoo sears into him, signing so aggressively it may as well be screaming. "I will not be yours again. You can rot. Alone."

The eyes of the devil glare at him with so much venom that it could poison a whole neighborhood. Jameson stares back into them directly, fire alight in them.

The air wavers, and shockingly, miraculously, Anti's form dissipates and he retreats. Jameson collapses to the ground the moment it's gone, the crying rocking his whole body. His crying is quiet, always forced to be quiet. Henrik does not wake up, unknowingly no longer safe in their own bed. He cries alone on the floor for hours, until sleeping on the sofa. He can't bear to sleep next to anyone right now, even Henrik. His skin feels smeared with dirt and crawls along his body. He finds himself clawing at the tattoo fitfully, falling into a disturbed sleep.

The next day, he does text Marvin, and Marvin comes over immediately, shouting like their head will fall off, promising to keep him safe. Henrik calls off his shift to stay with him all day. Jackie practically bursts down their door when the news gets to him, and Chase sends so many worried texts JJ turns off his phone. None of it helps. None of the love or comfort helps it. They're not safe. They're not, and Jameson doesn't know anymore if they ever will be.

Something has to change. He needs to get rid of Anti. Forever. No matter how dark the magic needed will be. He'll do anything for his friends.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Here, have some analysis literally no one asked for.

As far as I can tell, there are very few, if any, dramatizations of the original YJ kids that come close to their portrayals in the comics. For instance, there are plenty of animated and live-action adaptations that feature a Superboy/Conner Kent, but most bear little to no resemblance in personality and origin to the Kon-El of the 1990s/early 2000s comics. There are two versions that I am aware of that actually do specifically adapt the original Kesel-and-Grummett Kon, and these adaptations have something in common: they try to correct some of the problematic areas of the character's story.

Kon's first appearance in the comics includes such things as

his romantically pursuing and being pursued by adult women who are fully aware that he is physically sixteen but chronologically more or less born yesterday;

adults exploiting his naivete for their own gain;

and Superman's preventing Project Cadmus from killing him but doing nothing to keep him out of their ownership or away from the control of his corrupt manager.

This sets Kon up for a hundred-issue-long solo comic in which nearly every adult in his life fails him and he's left to blunder through life with minimal guidance while assuming everything that happens to him is either normal or his fault. It's a worrisome story, and while I do think it could be adapted as a deconstruction with full recognition that This Is Messed Up, neither of the adaptations I'm about to discuss have that scope and thus need to adjust some things.

First there's BBC Radio's Superman: Doomsday and Beyond (1993). This is an adaptation of the whole Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen storyline that the comics were running that year. You can listen to the whole thing on YouTube; it's pretty good!

Kon's appearance in this adaptation is diminished from his role in the corresponding comics, most likely for concerns of brevity with such a sprawling story to cover. Nothing about the character is changed; he is a clone created by Cadmus who escapes, calls himself Superman, and joins in the climactic battle when the real Superman is restored to life. He appears to be a teenager, wears shades and a leather jacket, and flirts with every woman he meets. This Kon is voiced by an adult doing his best dopey teenager impression, which is hard to take seriously. Not that the character is very serious, but in moments when he needs to be heroic instead of the arrogant, petulant comic relief, it's not so effective.

The major change is in how his relationships with women are depicted. Tana Moon, the twenty-three-year-old reporter who gets her big break using him for a story and later goes on to be his love interest, is included in this adaptation. But instead of her eventually pushing for a romantic relationship, the interest is portrayed as completely one-sided on his part. He complains to her that she stood him up on an attempted date (...while calling her "man"), but she's too busy warning him that her employers are using him to respond. This Tana is also not complicit in the exploitation, unlike in the comics.

Roxy Leech is mentioned as the reason Kon so readily makes a deal with her father, but her role is nonspeaking, so her advances toward him as portrayed in the comics (including a creepy innuendo-ridden conversation over a video game played with joysticks) are omitted, and Kon just comes across as one-sidedly silly and immature rather than preyed upon. Which isn't...wonderful characterization, but relatively? less bad? than the original.

The full exploration of his tactile telekinesis and exact origins aren't explored (his last line is his conceding the Superman title back to Clark), but there's a line that does hint at the heart of the character. When trying to convince Tana to go out with him, he tells her he's been cleaning up his jacket and costume and insists that "if the original Superman was alive he'd be proud to have me for a clone." Not a line from the comics, but in keeping with his desperation to be accepted and meet expectations.

The need to correct Kon's story is more marked in the animated film Reign of the Supermen (2019). This is a much looser adaptation of that storyline and reinterprets Kon's backstory through the retconned lens of his being a clone of both Superman and Lex Luthor, created not by Cadmus but by LexCorp to be a pawn.

There is no Cadmus in this version, no Paul Westfield, no Dubbilex, no Tana Moon, no Rex and Roxy Leech. This Kon is still an exploited child, but this time that comes solely from Luthor, who is kind of a "stage parent" toward his clone and at one point almost kills him for failing to perform as desired.

This Kon is still very eager for female attention, but all his admirers while he's enjoying celebrity status are teenage girls around his (physical) age, not adult women. He still attempts to hit on older women, but this is portrayed as an effect of his lack of social skills, and unlike in the comics, the women are always disgusted. Mercy Graves complains that he's "too handsy" for her liking, and Lois Lane finds his attempts to flirt with her (starting by asking how old she is and insisting he's "old enough") "revolting."

Nevertheless, this version of the character has more adults who try to look out for him. Dabney Donovan, the scientist who created him, is kindly toward him and begs Luthor not to kill the boy--at the expense of his own life. (Cf. Donovan in the comics, who doesn't have that role and is rather villainous.) Even though Lois is annoyed by the boy, she's friendly toward him the few times they encounter each other. It's implied that something in his DNA from Clark makes him feel comfortable opening up to her. He confides his disappointment in learning about the human side of his DNA, and she reassures him. Almost like what Tana's role was intended to be for him, but minus the creepy grooming and using him to further her career.

Clark is taken aback when Kon addresses him as "Dad" when they finally meet, but he listens patiently to Kon's account of his "harrowing" life so far and refuses Luthor's demands for the return of his clone--"The boy stays with me!" Kon makes it clear that he wants to live with Clark. That doesn't work out, obviously, but the film's epilogue includes the newly renamed Conner's going to live with the Kents. ("Aww," Lois comments. "They'll eat him alive.") This changed ending is a practical choice, glossing over the comics' long complicated interval of his being more or less on his own, but it also rewrites his story so that more concern is shown for his welfare as a child/minor. He's being sent to a loving, stable home instead of being left to the exploitation of unscrupulous adults.

(...and then apparently this film series goes on to unceremoniously kill him off in the next installment, which negates everything, but for purposes of this discussion, I am choosing to ignore this.)

Anyway, here's where I should say something very intelligent about why adaptations make the choices that they do that would wrap all this up brilliantly, but this is all I've got. Except...note the difference in the adaptations' choices by date. The 1993 radio adaptation diminishes predatory behavior but tends to hold Kon in contempt for his gullibility. The 2019 film was more like THAT'S A CHILD and handled him mostly accordingly. Which I would consider a step up in character interpretation.

[ghost-in-your-doorway]

Hi!! Do you have other animals or creatures you associate with/feel close to, other than bunnies?

I hope you're all stable and having some fun times with R! I'm proud of you for moving out from your parents <3

Hi!!! I love your questions and your kind words, you always manage to brighten my day and make everything a little softer 💛 thank you so much Anni

Heres some animals that are not bunnies we identify with/like a whole lot:

- 🐻 bears! Bears have always been a favorite of mine, both in big scary beastie and little soft teddy form! It’s not something I’d been able to express until my adulthood because while My Animal was Bunnies, my closest sibling’s was Bears, and therefore I could Not Have That. It became more okay because said sibling relates to other animals nowadays

Anyway, Dosy(as the oc) liking bears was always a trait of hers because shes always been like a mama bear to all the other robots. The main Dosy is named Dosybear for her protective and soft tendencies

- Birdies 🕊️ (songbirds, chickens and crows) I LOVE bird watching, and bird feeding, and supporting Birds because I love them so so much. If you ever ask me if I want to see a bird, my answer is YES! Birdy Belle got her name because she absolutely loves watching birds so much and narrating the possible bird drama to anyone who will hear it

Chickens because I have a strong affinity for farm animals and I raised chicks as a very small child and also a couple of flocks of them later in life. There is little more wonderful than petting a chicken until she tips over in your lap and you both take a nap in the sunshine. Hail, Dosy and the littles have all always loved chickens

Crows because my beloveds take the form of Corvids in my stories to watch over all the forms of me <3 R’s “evil” crow self owns the Docile and all robot parts and it feels very secure. Mal takes form of a raven to watch over Princess Rose/the Flower parts!

- cats/tigers 🐯 we were born in the year of the Tiger and my birthday makes me a Lion(Leo). I used to not like that idea at all but really embraced the identity in teenagehood when Taiga emerged. I also used to rp a tiger girl and she’ll always be close to my heart. I also just think tigers are really neat!

There has been some thought about a nonhuman part that’s a nonspeaking cat, too. I can’t tell if it’s just a side of Taiga or what, they only ever take form to pester R so yknow.. hesitant to make any claims.

I’ve also just always adored cats, both my late Penny and earlier Anika, my affectionate and pretty little ladies

- sheep 🐑 This is mostly just an OC thing, because one of my favorite lore worlds with R is our demonic sheep people and the lives they lead. I just love sheep though too, something something ancient-feeling ties to both farm animals and church themes

- wolfs 🐺 While I don’t feel hugely connected to wolves that much, we do have a couple of werewolf parts so it would be silly not to include them (Cerberus and Percy)

- Seaslugs that look like bunnies 🐠 While they are not bunnies, they may as well be. Mossballs also fall under this category but they are not bunnies or even animals at all

Also under the underwater category, we have a part who loves Angelfish, and Hidey really loves Sea Angels

- bees 🐝 I had a phase where I was just obsessed with bees and learning all about them. Same thing with frogs? I don’t really remember it and it was really hugely a Taiga hosting thing I think. I do love bees still but I don’t seek out aesthetics with them because insects are too much of a trigger for me. I do have a lot of bee-themed things though that are very cottagecore

~~

I think thats it! I feel very selfish for claiming to like so many things, but I also feel like this list is incomplete at the same time u u hmmm complicated feelings

But thank you for the ask, I hope you don’t mind my rambles!

[gatesofember]

love how nico doesnt even consider having biological kids with will so he doesnt get dysphoric <3

(pregnancy tw)

So actually it has nothing to do with Will and everything to do with Nico. Nico really cares about adoption. It’s not a backup to him like “I want kids but I can’t have/don’t want them biologically so I’ll adopt.” Adoption is his first choice. He was adopted, remember? Nico didn’t consider having biological kids because Nico wants to adopt his kids. Adoption is really really special to him.

If you want to know about Will, he doesn’t have much dysphoria and he’s very proud of his body. I don’t think he’d want to be pregnant but he wouldn’t be triggered by the thought of it.

(Can you imagine if Nico DID think about having biological kids with Will though? He’d be like “we could do IVF or get a surrogate if Will’s not comfortable with pregnancy...or maybe...maybe we could make a baby the traditional way...👀👉👈 if Will’s ok with that...I mean friends hook up all the time right? It’s totally normal! Plus we’d save a lot of money avoiding fertility treatments…it’s just practical!”)

Side note: in my Wild West au, the second kid Will and Nico have is biological. Will was indifferent towards pregnancy until he found out he was pregnant and was faced with the question of whether he wanted to carry a baby or not (Will would definitely have forbidden abortion knowledge and he’s safely performed abortions before so if he didn’t want to be pregnant he would simply stop being pregnant—it’s very important to me that he consents!) but then he was like ‘actually yeah! I’d love to have our baby grow inside me! that’s super cool!’ (personally I cannot relate but power to the trans men and afab enbys who feel this way!) Also Nico would be SO attentive and wait on Will hand and foot throughout the pregnancy and give him back rubs every day and make him breakfast every morning because he loves his husband SO MUCH and will do absolutely anything for him. (I miss the Wild West au ☹️) (oh their first kid was adopted and is nonspeaking autistic, genderfluid, and Jewish and their second kid is a daughter, kind of a wild child, and disabled)

[butterflyinthewell]

Make sure to expose your nonspeaking autistic kids to language.

Buy audiobooks related to their interests if you can find them, or get easy little picture books and read to them. Expose them to singalong videos where the lyrics are on the screen.

The goal is to expose them to words and what they mean. It doesn’t matter if they never use them. They hear or see you (sign language) using language.

Maybe one day your kiddo will bring their favorite storybook to you when you’re sad because it comforts them and they think it’ll comfort you, or they’ll point to a favorite picture in the book when they’re happy, or maybe they’ll fingerspell a song title or sign a lyric line from a song. Maybe, if they talk at all, it’ll be to repeat favorite sentences from the books or a lyric.

Even if they never speak spontaneously and only repeat stuff from the material you exposed them to, they have something they can use to communicate with you! Maybe they come to you and say, sign or type “Cinderella lost her glass slipper” because they can’t find their shoes. First off, that’s cute, and secondly they’re communicating with you in a way you can understand. That matters!

They might be really proud of themselves for being able to tell you something, don’t squash it by correcting them to say “I lost my shoes.”

Later on, they may start communicating with you using AAC and they’ll already have some building blocks for language laid down because you deliberately exposed them to it.

I won’t say everyone can do this, some people absorb language like a sponge and others may not. I’m not saying reading to your autistic kid is gonna magically make them able to communicate understandably with you (cuz mine-body disconnect is a thing for some), but it doesn’t hurt to give them a chance.

There are too many parents who assume their nonspeaking autistic kid doesn’t understand anything, so they don’t bother with language other than giving them commands. It’s really isolating to see everybody talking around you, but never talking TO you.

Language deprivation is a thing, just ask the Deaf community because they deal with it all the time.

[queerplatonicpositivity]

[ Image Description: A young Black teenager shown from the shoulders up in a white t-shirt that reads "What's J Say?" He is standing in front of a taupe brick wall, and the sun is casting a shadow of his body. He is looking at the camera with a direct expression. Text on the image states: I Am a Proud, Black, Nonspeaking Young Man with Autism. My Life Matters. End Image Description ]

October is International Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Month and is also Black History Month in the UK, so I wanted to share this poem.

Justice Killebrew, a non-speaking Black Autistic person, was 14 when he wrote this poem in 2020, after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. He uses an iPad or laminated board to communicate.

----

So are we still waiting with a song in our hearts?!

Hoping we make it back home to loved ones.

Not because I’m a police officer, not because I’m a person in the military. NO!

It’s because my skin is black, my frame is tall and I am considered to be a threat!

They want me to disappear!

So if I don’t leave they’ll do it for me, but I’m here and I’m not leaving! My Black Life Matters!

I move on a different frequency, yes a different rhythm.

Please don’t kill me because I’m different. I deserve a chance at a good life. My Black Life Matters.

Instead, celebrate me!

I’m a descendant of the people who built this country you worship, and the ground you freely walk and that flag you love so much that Betsy Ross stole the credit for.

My Black Life Matters!

How can you be so mad at me because I want to be free?!

Are you loving people and making hate an enemy?!

Let’s begin to heal one another by education and advocation.

Let’s drown out hate and flood this world with love because:

All lives Matter when Black lives Matters!

[ablednt]

Although I really do find it interesting that while Autism is slowly losing it's stigma vulnerable Autistic people are left behind entirely. Reminder that our activism needs to be dedicated in helping the following

Nonspeaking Autistic people

Autistic children

Autistic people with "ugly" or "bad" traits or stims that are disruptive or unpleasant

Autistic people under conservatorships

Autistic people with other stigmatized disorders such as Down Syndrome, Schizophrenia, or personality disorders etc.

Physically disabled Autistic people

Autistic systems (regardless of type but especially those targeted by psychiatry)

Autistic people with higher support needs

And Autistic people/people with Autism who aren't yet or ever proud of their disorder. Who wish they were NT.

Anyone else who doesn't fit into what's mainly celebrated in the community

Like it's good that more acceptance of SIs/hyperfixations is going around but please don't forget that Autism isn't a palatable disorder for NTs to have no problems with. Talking only about the positives allows the most vulnerable among us to be targeted and othered further.

[clownrecess]

(Tw for ableism and lack of autonomy)

I want to talk about the issues with touching somebody's AAC device, and how it feels when people do that to me.

I've spoken about this a bit before, but I have more thoughts on it now that I feel like expressing.

People touch my device a lot, and they very rarely have permission. Whether its because they want to prevent me from moving too far away so they'll grab my devices strap, or they press random buttons, or pull it toward them, or push in my puffy stickers, or to search through my private folder, or something else, people tend to touch my AAC device without my consent. It has gotten to the point that my lockscreen has to say "My communication device functions as a body part, do not touch it without my direct consent." And I have a label on the back of the case that says "COMMUNICATION DEVICE PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH!".

When people do these things it feels extremely invasive, like someone touching your mouth or putting their hands in your throat. Its gross, uncomfortable, scary and weird.

It is also super important to note that a lot of nonspeaking people have sensory issues. You have lotion on your hands? The lotion rubbing off may have just ruined that persons device until cleaned. Also, bacteria is very much a thing.

I have to wipe down my device with sanitary wipes a lot, because I set it on all sorts of surfaces, and lots of people touch it. People who probably have dirty hands.

I personally don't, but some people attach chewies to their AAC device, or bite on the case. That makes the sanitary issues even more intense.

I also stim using tangles a lot, and I also have a ton of anxiety around children touching me or my things. Last school year, a kid at my school touched one of my tangles despite me telling him not to, and then I was unable to use that one for at least a month. My point of bringing that up is just, please don't touch peoples things without permission, especially disability aids.

[playdo-the-happy-pup]

hi everyone ! i am an autistic nonspeaking AAC user, and i need help communicating almost always. while it can be hard to use social media sometimes in this way, i have a great support system that helps me learn and grow, and i use social media in an adaptive, safe, and healthy manner. <33

[the-autisticats]

#ActuallyAutistic vocabulary words and terms you should know!

There is a lot of confusion about & misuse of words related to autism and neurodivergence, so hopefully this list clears some things up :)

Neurodiversity Paradigm: a critical social theory that began in the autism rights movement, which states that neurological variation is a natural part of human diversity, and that people of all neurotypes should be valued and accommodated in society.

Neurotype: the way someone’s brain is wired, often analogous to a person’s diagnosis or lack thereof. For example, “autistic” is a neurotype, and so is “neurotypical.”

Neurodiverse: used to describe a group of people who have different neurotypes. For example, you could use the word “neurodiverse” to refer to a group of people that includes autistic people, neurotypical people, ADHD people, etc.

Neurodivergent: a person whose neurology/brain wiring is substantially different from the norm. This word is usually used in reference to people with developmental and learning disabilities. It includes autistic people and “Autistic Cousins.”

Neurotypical: a term that originated in the autistic community, which refers to a person with typical neurology; someone who does not have a developmental or learning disability; someone who is not autistic or an Autistic Cousin.

Autistic Cousin (AC): non-autistic neurodivergent people, who have conditions that often include some autistic traits. ACs include people with ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, Tourette’s, Dyslexia, Schizoaffective Disorder, etc.

Allistic: any non-autistic person. This includes both neurotypical people, and non-autistic neurodivergent people (ACs).

Stimming: short for self-stimulatory behavior; repetitive motions or actions that autistic people frequently do to regulate sensory and emotional input. Examples include hand flapping, rocking, chewing, jumping, etc.

Special Interest (SI, SpIn): an autism-specific term that refers to an autistic person’s passionate interest in a certain topic or activity, something they are extremely invested in and knowledgeable about. These interests are much more intense than neurotypical people’s interests.

Hyperfixation: a term used to refer to a topic or activity that a neurodivergent person is currently extremely focused on, often causing us to forget to do certain basic necessities like bathe and eat. Autistic people, ADHD people, and some other neurodivergent people experience hyperfixations. Autistic people’s hyperfixations are often our special interests. This word can also be used as a synonym for hyperfocus, in the forms “hyperfixate” and “hyperfixating.”

Hyperfocus: the state of being extremely focused on a hyperfixation. This is the time blind mental state that neurodivergent people enter when we become fixated on a thought, topic, interest, or activity.

Meltdown: an emotional “explosion” in an autistic person, caused by sensory and/or emotional overstimulation. Meltdowns can involve crying, screaming, arguing, yelling, and aggressive and/or self-injurious behavior. Sometimes, autistic people can have more subtle versions of meltdowns that look more like panic attacks.

Shutdown: an emotional “implosion” in an autistic person, caused by sensory and/or emotional overstimulation. Shutdowns can involve crying, being unable to speak (“going nonverbal”), becoming stiff and immobile, and trying to hide.

Autistic Burnout: a long-term, chronic state of executive dysfunction and sensory/emotional dysregulation. Burnout can be caused when an autistic person is in an environment that doesn’t meet their needs. Symptoms of burnout include lethargy, frequent nonverbal episodes, deteriorating personal hygiene, and an inability to do basic tasks that the person was once able to do.

A$: a tongue in cheek acronym that stands for Autism Speaks, which is an organization that funds research into genetic causes and “treatments” for autism. They claim to represent autistic people, but there is only one autistic person on their board of directors, and they have repeatedly refused to listen to the needs of autistic people who reach out to them. They use fearmongering tactics to earn money, but almost none of that money goes towards directly helping autistic people and our families.

/s: this is short for /sarcasm, which is a common courtesy used between autistic people communicating online, to make it easier to understand when someone is being sarcastic. It is usually placed after the last word in a sentence. For example: wow, that lecture was sooo informative! /s

/j: this is short for /joke, which is also a common courtesy used between autistic people communicating online. It makes it easier to tell when someone is joking, as opposed to being serious. It’s used in the same way as /s.

Identity First Language: this is the term used to describe autistic people’s preference for being referred to as “autistic” rather than “people with autism.” This is because autism can’t be separated from who we are, and it’s not a bad thing, so we don’t want to be separated from it. We’re autistic, and proud!

ABA: stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis. It’s a branch of behavioral therapy that aims to change autistic people’s behavior through a system of regimented rewards and punishments. It was founded by the same man who pioneered gay conversion therapy, Ivar Lovaas. ABA is fundamentally coercive and abusive, even in its most watered-down forms. Many autistic people who have gone through ABA now have PTSD.

Masking: learned behavior that an autistic person employs to disguise the fact that they’re autistic; when an autistic person acts neurotypical in front of other people. Long-term masking can be harmful to an autistic person’s mental health.

Nonspeaking: this is a word used to refer to anyone who is either unable to, or very infrequently able to, use their mouth and voice box to produce speech that communicates their thoughts. Around 1/3 of all autistic people are nonspeaking.

AAC: short for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. This term refers to any system or method of communication that is not sign language or spoken language. It may refer to the use of a tablet, keyboard, picture exchange system, or any number of other methods.

That’s all I can think of for now. What would you add?

~Eden🐢

[newsagogos]

8, 9, 15 for cherri and 30-35 for poison!

Cherri

8- Is there anyone that they currently aren’t speaking to? Why?

A lot of people (it being its dashing self) but dr d. (Teehee canon moments<3) D and newsie had a sortof rivalry that was never that serious but cherris overprotective and took things too seriously and too personally (no one touches its sibling) and well even tho things did get cleared up ut still held a grudge and is too proud to admit it was wrong, same as dr d. So they stay on nonspeaking terms for a good few years.

9- What is something that would break them emotionally?

Hm. Id say something happening to newsie considering its closest to them. And it did happen. what are the chances<3 To elaborate a little, it was a time where it was atill self destructive, didn't care about itself, the whole odreal but what it did care about was(is) newsie and when that happened, well it did break it.

15- Have they ever had their hair washed by another person?

Hm no, unless you count its time in the city which is well, different. The combination trust issues + touch averse (unless it's in control of the action) + not being close to anyone enough to be in that particular situation. Then comics cherri, idk what really happened yet, but it still isn't close to people in that way but like in a isolation way (also self sabotage </3) and i haven't decided what newsie and chimp are doing at this time but they're alive but not in the picture too much maybe. Hm. Maybe i change my answer actually. I think pony, that one time. Between like. Post twitters + deaths and it coming back and the comics. Like in the middle of dealing with that. It lets him. And it's not like actual washing but like. Letting em run some water through its hair and massaging it a bit. Maybe it was showing pony that it cares and trusts em cause even tho cherri does have the poetry section its not that great with words and saying stuff straight up. Better at actions

Poison

30-What is their ideal sleeping situation?

Im not sure i understand the question but like. I think big spooning someone if/when they get the chance

35-What color would they paint their nails?

I think whatever they could get their hands on. But if they wanna like. Start a rumor or well keep the mill running. they'd do it in a color of someone they may or may not be close to (but you didn't hea it from me!) So if it's in hot pink....

Send character asks mayhaps?

[sexuallyactivepopes]

hrhdjdh so i just found a youtuber whose content seemed pretty good but then they have the worst kind of historically reductionist take on asperger’s as a label and basically accuse anyone and everyone who expresses how genuinely harmful the term is of being tumblrites… so disappointing

believe it or not, shedding light on what hans asperger did is NOT memorializing him. if anything, it’s part of an effort to memorialize the children he sent off to be abused and exterminated purely and solely for their social class, disability, and “deficiency of gemüt”. there is nothing “beneficial” about his research because it is inexorably linked with nazi race science and eugenics, AND was scientifically flawed even by the standards that existed at the time. you can actually see his “research” dissolve further and further into hateful, ideological nazi bullshit over a period of about four years. and this research would have stayed dead and buried if it weren’t revived in the 80’s/90’s by someone who herself came to later regret having effectively brought the diagnostic criteria into existence (because asperger himself didn’t diagnose children with “asperger’s” — the term he utilized specifically was autistic psychopathology/psychopathy)

imo, and i really do not care if i hurt anyone’s feelings here, but if you cling to the asperger’s/aspie labels with this kind of ferocity, all it says to me (and this is coming from someone who most likely would have been diagnosed w/ asperger’s had i been diagnosed prior to like 2013) is that you want to separate yourself from the label “autistic” because you see something wrong with it. you want to be better than and be perceived as better than autistics with higher support needs, who are nonspeaking, who stim loudly and noticeably, who can’t mask, who ultimately didn’t have the privilege to be labeled as having asperger’s rather than autism prior to the introduction of the DSM-V/ICD-11 (because, again, the diagnosis of asperger’s is inextricably linked with white supremacy, and autistic children of color (especially black children) are far more likely to be misdiagnosed with a conduct disorder), or whatever. because that is ultimately the core of asperger’s work. there’s positive and negative eugenics — positive referring to initiatives meant to encourage the proliferation of “good” genes and negative referring to initiatives meant to weed out the “bad”. asperger would make efforts to enrich and educate children (all boys — and this is important) he found as being intelligent, personable, empathetic, “full of gemüt” and ultimately capable of being assimilated into and useful toward the third reich. children of lower social class, “without gemüt,” with cognitive and more “obvious” developmental disabilities, children with epilepsy, children with disabilities stemming from illnesses like measles and rubella, and rebellious girls exhibiting symptoms of trauma and “menstrual hysteria,” who were not only useless to the third reich but were also scapegoated as leeches on the system in popular social/political rhetoric pretty much immediately after WWI (sound familiar??) were systematically and horrifically abused. asperger interacted with these children directly, and then shepherded them himself to what was effectively a death camp. when he recommended these children for “jekelius action” (referring to erwin jekelius, who was the director of the spiegelgrund child “euthanasia” clinic and the coordinator of the T4 killing program), he KNEW that meant they would be murdered. why else do you think the world more broadly associates the label “asperger’s” with giftedness, intelligence, and success than it does with the label “autism”?

that dichotomy of “good enough” vs “not good enough” is implicit when you assert that no, you’re not autistic, you have asperger’s. and im sorry, but that’s not something anyone should be proud of.

i strongly recommend that anyone who is interested in the subject pick up the book “asperger’s children: the origins of autism in nazi vienna” by edith sheffer.